National Assembly of Pakistan

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The National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan.

1 Governance and structure
2 Composition and elections
3 Latest election
4 Dissolution
- 4.1 Article 58
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Governance and structure

The Speaker of the House presides over the Assembly, and acts as the president of the country if both the President and the Chairman of the Senate are not present. The leader of the largest party in the Assembly often serves as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

[edit] Composition and elections

The composition of the National Assembly is specified in Article 51[1] of the Constitution of Pakistan. There are a total of 342 seats in the National Assembly. Of these, 272 are filled by direct elections. In addition, the Pakistani Constitution reserves 10 seats for religious minorities and 60 seats for women, to be filled by proportional representation among parties with more than 5% of the vote. As of 2006, there are 72 women members in the Assembly.

Members of the National Assembly are elected by the people in competitive multi-party elections, to be held at most five years apart. According to Article 62 of the Constitution, candidates must be citizens of Pakistan and not less than twenty-five years of age.

[edit] Latest election

Main article: Elections in Pakistan

[discuss] – [edit]
**Summary of the October 2002 **National Assembly** elections**
	% of popular vote	Seats
Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam)	25.7	126
Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians	25.8	81
Muttahhida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami (Islamic Assembly) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Assembly of Islamic Clergy) Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Assembly of Pakistani Clergy) Tehrik-e-Islami (Movement for Islam)	11.3	63
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif)	9.4	19
Muttahida Qaumi Movement	3.1	17
National Alliance Sindh Democratic Alliance Millat Party Others	4.6	16
Pakistan Muslim League (Functional Group)	1.1	5
Pakistan Muslim League (Junejo)	0.7	3
Pakistan People's Party (Sherpao)	0.3	2
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf	0.8	1
Pakistan Awami Tehrik (Pakistan People's Movement}	0.7	1
Jamhoori Wattan Party (Republican National Party)	0.3	1
Pakistan Muslim League (Zia-ul-Haq Shaheed)	0.3	1
Pakistan Democratic Party	0.3	1
Balochistan National Party	0.2	1
Awami National Party	1.0	-
Pakhtun-khwa Milli Awami Party	-	1
Pakistan Ba'ath Party (Syed Raheem Muhammad Abid al-Majid Muhammad Hussein al-Tikriti)	-	-
Independents	-	3
Non-partisans (most joined one of the above parties)	14.1	21^*
Female elected members (included in party seats above)	.	60^*
Minorities (included in party seats above)	.	10^*
Total (turnout 41.8 %)		342
Source: Pakistan Electoral Commission & CIA Factbook * Not included in total. Except for three independents, most of these are included in the party-seat numbers

[edit] Dissolution

The President of Pakistan may dissolve the Assembly before the end of its regular five-year term, at his own initiative - subject to Supreme Court approval or veto - or at the initiative of the Prime Minister. If dissolved, new elections are conducted for the Assembly. Article 58 of the Constitution of Pakistan deals with the dissolution of the Assembly:

[edit] Article 58

(1) The President shall dissolve the National Assembly if so advised by the Prime Minister; and the National Assembly shall, unless sooner dissolved, stand dissolved at the expiration of forty-eight hours after the Prime Minister has so advised.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (2) of Article 48, the President may also dissolve the National Assembly in his discretion where, in his opinion,:

(a) a vote of no-confidence having been passed against the Prime Minister, no other member of the National Assembly is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution as ascertained in a session of the National Assembly summoned for the purpose; or

(b) a situation has arisen in which the Government of the Federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and an appeal to the electorate is necessary.

(3) The President in case of dissolution of the National Assembly under paragraph (b) of clause (2) shall, within fifteen days of the dissolution, refer the matter to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court shall decide the reference within thirty days, whose decision shall be final.